Portrait of a character in novel: Xichun (賈惜春) in A Dream of Red Chamber (紅樓夢)

The essence of a good novel is that what a character does, large or small (小動作 in Chinese) or says, a speech or a sentence, fits perfectly his or her character, personality or sentiment.  This is why I am attracted to George Eliot’s Middelmarch.

The following two paragraphs are how George Eliot describes the refinement and cleverness of Rosamond.  Keep in mind that Dr. Lydgate studied medicine in London, Edinburgh and Paris; has seen the “world”, so to speak; Rosamond spent all her life in pastoral Middlemarch (the town name, also the title of the novel).
 
Certainly, small feet and perfectly turned shoulders aid the impression of refined manners, and the right thing said seems quite astonishingly right when it is accompanied with exquisite curves of lip and eyelid.
 
“Tell me what you saw in London.” “Very little.” (A more naive girl would have said, “Oh, everything!” But Rosamond knew better.)
 
Ji Xichun (賈惜春) is one of the Jinling Twelve Beauties, the second cousin of Jia Baoyu (賈寶玉) in A Dream of Red Chamber (紅樓夢).  She had a sexual intimacy (溫存了一番) in Chapter 6.  Reading the English version one gets an impression that she is a “coquettish” and flirtatious young lady.  But that was not my impression reading the Chinese version.

說到雲雨私情，羞的襲人掩面伏身而笑。寶玉亦素喜襲人柔媚姣俏，遂強拉襲人同領警幻所秘授之事。襲人自知賈母曾將他給了寶玉，也無可推託的，扭捏了半日，無奈何，只得和寶玉溫存了一番。
 
I will comment on the following English translation.
 
寶玉亦素喜襲人柔媚姣俏
Since Bayou had long been attracted by Xichun’s gentle, coquettish ways. (English translation in book

My comment:

It says Baoyu (寶玉) had long been attracted by Xichun (惜春) because Xichun is 柔媚姣俏, which is “gentle, gorgeous, and attractive”.  It doesn’t imply coquettish (flirtatious, a playful sexual attraction; teasing; make sexual overture).  柔媚姣俏 may be more of sensual beauty than of sensuous beauty, but still not any tone or suggestion of “coquettish”.

 
扭捏了半日，無奈何，只得和寶玉溫存了一番
So they tried it out secretly together, and luckily they were not discovered. (English translation in book)

My comment:
In fact, Xichun (惜春) went along, only after much hesitation and reluctance (扭捏了半日，無奈何), which was entirely ignored and omitted in English version.
 
說到雲雨私情，羞的襲人掩面伏身而笑
Baoyu, then told her his dream in full, concluding with his initiation by Disenchantment into the “sport of cloud and rain.” Xiren [Xichun], hearing this, covered her face and doubled up in a fit of giggles. (English translation in book)

My comment:
雲雨私情 is translated as “sport of cloud and rain”.  I bet few English readers know what is “sport of cloud and rain”. 雲雨私情, as in 巫山雲雨, refers to “making love”.

襲人自知賈母曾將他給了寶玉，也無可推託的
As she [Xichun] knew that the Lady Dowager had given her to Baoyu she felt this would not be an undue liberty. (English translation in book)

My comment:

Xichun knew the Lady Dowager had “given her to Baoyu”.  In Chinese society the women were treated like an “object”, a “property”, Xichun was “given to Baoyu”, whatever that means; so Xichun felt it was not inappropriate or improper for her to go along with Baoyu’d demand.

Mao Zedong claimed he read A Dream of Red Chamber (紅樓夢) five times; he must be infatuated and infuriated by the corrupt society, the custom, the culture and the feudal system the novel exposed.  It must have intensified his revolutionary zeal.

 

 .

The rigor and strength of science or lack thereof: “Sun-Shine” Vitamin D

In one of my talks at Taiwanese Bible Study a few months ago, vitamin D was one of the topics.  I showed many reports published in New York Times, Scientific American, Science or Gut; showing vitamin D is essential for most organs and good for many diseases or can even prevent colon cancer.

It makes sense that it happens as most cells in all organs have receptors for vitamin D.  Vitamin D is not just for the bone.

In a study published in Gut and New York Times (1/15/2015) showing “the higher the vitamin D level, the less likely one will develop colon cancer.”  We read the comment from Dr. Shuji Ogino (Dana-Farber Cancer Institute), “Vitamin D boosts immunity not just in cancer, but in fighting infections as well.”

An article in New York Times reported adults with low levels of vitamin D would have 35% increased risk of death from heart disease and 14% greater likelihood of death from cancer.

Reports link low vitamin D levels to Parkinson disease, autism or psychosis.  No wonder the vitamin D test skyrocketed the past 10 years or so. 

Is this the sound science or the hype? One New York Times article asked.

The Institute of Medicine (the most prestigious and authoritative institute in medicine) issued a report in November 2010 claiming vitamin D and calcium play a key role in bone health and evidences do not support other benefits.  It concluded that higher [vitamin D] level doesn’t confer greater benefit and may be harmful.

The Institute assessed more than 1000 studies/reports plus expert testimony related to various health outcomes.  They found evidences (other than bone health) to be mixed and inconclusive. Current evidences support a role in bone health but not in other health conditions.

US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) also issued a similar report in July 2012, saying “found insufficient evidence to recommend supplement to healthy people to prevent broken bone or cancer.”

Why so many experts are non-believers?
Almost all vitamin D studies are “observational”, lacking scientific rigor and strength.  The experts are academicians who only have confidence on controlled double-blind trials.

making vitamin D in the garden

Correlation does not necessarily mean a cause-and-effect relationship
Some hold a view that high vitamin D level is the result, not the cause, of good health.  People may have high vitamin D levels because they exercise a lot and are getting ultraviolet-light exposure from working in the garden.

My recommendation
The experts do not recommend routine vitamin D blood test for healthy individuals.  I may have ordered vitamin D tests more often than I should.  However, if a normal vitamin D level is good for bone health; that alone is enough incentive to do the test, not that I believe in other potential benefits.

The normal vitamin D level: 25(OH) Vitamin D is 30-100 ng/ml.

National Osteoporosis Foundation recommends persons with osteoporosis to take 800-1000 IU vitamin D a day and 1200 mg calcium a day, whereas Endocrine Society recommends vitamin D 1500-2000 IU a day.



Vitamin  D test skyrocketed

On translating “A Dream of Red Chamber” (紅樓夢)

I have been reading “A Dream of Red Chamber” (紅樓夢) in Chinese and in English side by side, in an attempt to learn the skill of translating Chinese into English.  English version also helps me better understand Chinese version here and there.

紅樓夢 was written two hundred some years ago; the language was different from modern vernacular Chinese (白話); to me it was a more concise, more refined and more beautiful language.  I liken it to Shakespeare’s language, comparing with modern English.

I will write about 紅樓夢 as I read or as I please, focusing on the aspect of English translation.  I am not well versed on either language, so this is just a comment, not a critique.  Janice always wanted to read the book in English, I never encouraged her; as she cannot appreciate as much as I can.  No matter how good a translation, the beauty of the Chinese language was lost in translation.

There was an abridged (about half the length of the original) translation of the book by Lin Yutang.

今年方五十上下，只有薛蟠一子。還有一女比薛蟠小兩歲，乳名寶釵，生得肌骨瑩潤，舉止嫻雅
She was about forty years of age and Xue Pan was her only son.  But she also had a daughter two years younger whose infant name was Baochai, a beautiful, dainty girl of great natural refinement. (translation in book)

My comments:
Xue Baochai (薛寶釵) eventually married Jia Baoyu (賈寶玉). 生得肌骨瑩潤，舉止嫻雅 is how she was described when I first came across her on the page.  “a beautiful, dainty girl of great natural refinement” is a good translation; I can do no better, but Baochai would say “I am better than that.”

今年方五十上下 was translated as “She was about forty years of age”.  I think the Chinese says “more or less fifty years of age”, which is “about fifty years of age”.

乳名 was translated as “infant name”; “childhood name” would be better.

只打了個落花流水，生拖死拽，把個英蓮拖去，如今也不知死活
He stared a big fight, and then dragged her off by force more dead than alive. What’s become of her since, I don’t know. (translation in book)

My comments:
落花流水 comes from a poem of “流水落花春去也，天上人間”.  The idiom of 落花流水 now means “involving a big fight and often was beaten”.  如今也不知死活  “What’s become of her since, I don’t know.” is an excellent translation by any measure.

落花流水, when reversed as 流水落花, the meaning remains the same; examples abound; that’s the beauty of Chinese language.

The flowers watched the tilting sighingly in silence (感傷歎息)

A few days ago we’re tilting, which is part of the clean-up job at the end of the gardening.  The nearby flowers, mostly zinnia, marigold and Sylvia, watched sighingly in silence (感傷歎息) for their days remained which were not many.

Speaking of 感傷歎息 which means “sigh in a lamenting way”.  I am reading “A Dream of Red Chamber (紅樓夢)” in Chinese and in English and noticed in one sentence the  感傷歎息 was translated as “very upset”, which, in my view, was not the best choice of word. “Upset” is emotionally disturbed; more of agitating or angry, than lament and sigh.

我將緣故回明, 那太爺感傷歎息了一回。

He seemed very upset when I explained all that had happened.

Dear doctor, do I have to take Co-enzyme Q10?

Hans Krebs and Fritz Lipmann shared the Nobel Prize in medicine in 1953 for their discovery of citric acid cycle, now bears his name, Krebs cycle, and coenzyme A.  Krebs cycle is the furnace to burn the fuel of life producing energy (ATP) to keep us going.  In his Nobel Lecture, Krebs thanks Lipmann profusely for his discovery of coenzyme A, without which the concept of a cycle is incomplete. 

However, this is still not the end of the story as the last step of how ATP is produced was still elusive until 1961 when Peter Mitchell presented his bold chemiosmosis theory or electron transport chain, at which time no any experimental data to prove it. Mitchell was indeed one of greatest theoretic chemists/biologists.

Chemiosmosis showing ATP is produced  (from Mitchell's Nobel Lecture)

His audacious theory inspired or propelled numerous experiments during the ensuing 20 years.  In his Nobel Lecture, Mitchell quoted Max Planck, saying “a new scientific idea does not triumph by convincing its opponents, but rather because its opponents eventually die”, he then said “The fact that what began as the chemiosmotic hypothesis has now been acclaimed as the chemiosmotic theory - at the physiological level, even if not at the biochemical level - has therefore aroused in me emotions of astonishment and delight in full and equal measure, which are all the more heartfelt because those who were formerly my most capable opponents are still in the prime of their scientific lives.

Few may be aware that Krebs’ earth-moving, heaven-shocking (驚天動地) discovery of the citric acid cycle was initially rejected by Nature.

At the end of his Nobel Lecture, Mitchell talked about ubiquinone (coenzyme Q10) being the electron transporter (in the mitochondrial membrane) in the last step of producing ATP.  Thus Q10 is needed to convert the food into energy.  I cannot overemphasize the importance of it.

Chemiosmosis showing ubiquinone or Q10 in action--from Mitchell's Nobel Lecture)

Not that Q10 is not important enough; it is also an antioxidant, function of which is to protect cells from the damages caused by free radicals in many vital life processes.

With that being said, knowing how important Q10 is in the role it plays in vital life process. Does that mean everyone should take Q10 as a supplement every day? The answer is not as easy as it seems.

Coenzyme Q10 is found in most of the organs.  It is estimated that dietary intake contributes about 25% of plasma Q10 level.  Most people get enough Q10 through a balanced diet.  Food rich in Q10 include salmon, tuna, liver or whole grains.  No specific dietary intake of Q10 recommendation was ever issued by Institute of Medicine or other agencies.

When patients told me they are taking dietary supplements, including Q10, my position is that I will encourage them to take it if most randomized controlled trials are beneficial, even negligible.  I would counsel and caution them if most of the studies showing conflicting results.  I would discourage them if I am aware of the significant adverse effects.  In case of Q10 I found no reason to discourage, nor to encourage whole-heartedly, at least not yet.

But Q10 supplements may be of benefit in certain conditions, although not without controversy in most of the cases.  My personal view is that when in doubt, check it out or try it out (as patients please) as the known adverse effects seem negligible.

I will discuss some of the more specific medical conditions that the use of Q10 has been studied.

Using Q10 to prevent or treat myopathy (muscle ache) caused by cholesterol-lowering “statins”
The main reason why people stop taking cholesterol-lowering “statins” (the likes of Zocor, Lipitor, Pravachol, Crestor) is myopathy (causing muscle ache). Q10 depletion has been implicated in statin-induced myopathy; it seems logic to use Q10 to prevent or treat it.  There is anecdotal evidence for benefit, but there are no published controlled trials.  An UpToDate article doesn’t recommend using Q10 to prevent or treat statin-induced myopathy.

Using Q10 for the therapy of heart failure
A randomized trial found that Q10 reduced mortality and hospitalization in patients with moderate to severe heart failure. 

However, a systemic review included seven randomized trial with a total of 914 patients with heart failure comparing Q10 with placebo.  It showed no benefit of Q10.  Based on this the 2013 American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association guidelines do not recommend using Q10 as a therapy for heart failure.

Neuroprotective effects of coenzyme Q10 in Parkinson disease
Interest in Q10 was inspired by evidence that mitochondrial dysfunction may play a role in the pathogenesis of Parkinson disease.  But studies showed Q10 has no neuroprotective effect for patients with Parkinson disease.  One study involved 80 patients using high dosage of 1200 mg/day, another study involved 131 patients.  Another Phase III study, involving 300 patients, was halted for “futility after an interim analysis, showing neither neuroprotective nor symptomatic benefit of Q10.

Using Q10 to treat diabetes
A report in Diabetes Medicine (in 1999) showing supplementation with 100 mg/day of Q10 for three months neither improved blood sugar control nor decreased insulin requirement in type 1 diabetics compared to placebo.  Numerous other studies showed conflicting results; some suggested harm from taking Q10.

Some claim the favorable response to Q10 in treating diabetic neuropathy.  In an UpToDate article of treating diabetic neuropathy, Q10 was not even mentioned.

NIH Cancer Institute has a lengthy post about Q10, too.
Q10 has been shown to protect the heart from anthracycline-induced cardiotoxicity (anthracyclines are a family of chemotherapy drugs, including doxorubicin, that have the potential to damage the heart.)

The list goes on

Idiosyncratic idioms

I always think idioms are invented to 欺負 (take advantage of) the foreigners or ones with a foreign tongue, as the meaning of which, more often than not, cannot tell literally from its component words.

“neck of the woods” (neighborhood) is nothing to do with the neck. What’s “raining cats and dogs” (heavy downpour) got to do with cats and dogs?  It is hard to guess “to let the cat out of the bag” is to reveal a secret. If she “has a bee in her bonnet”; she is obsessed.  If a doctor says “it sounds like run of the mill cases”; it means cases being discussed are “average, nothing special”.

Bill Watterson likes to use idioms in his Calvin and Hobbes comic strips.  “give someone a run for the money” means “to be as good at something as someone who is very good”.

“hit the spot” or “hit the bull’s eye” is to be exactly right.

In A Dream of Red Chamber, “雨村閒居無聊” is translated as “Then Yucun, finding time heavy on his hand”, which is a good translation as time seems to go slowly [the heavier the slower the time travels] when one has nothing to do.

“born with a silver spoon in one’s mouth” is to say born into wealth and privilege.  In A Dream of Red Chamber we read “胞胎 嘴裡便啣下一塊五彩晶瑩的玉來” (the birth of a son who came into this world with a piece of clear, brilliantly colored jade in his mouth”.) Since this was talking about a prominent family, so I think East and West thought are in the same line.

Color is unique to each culture. “Once in a blue moon” (occurs rarely) and “out of the blue” (unexpected). “Feeling blue” is a melancholy mood.  One should never give a Chinese gentleman a green hat, as “戴绿帽” (wearing a green hat) tells he is being cheated by his wife.  黄色小說 (yellow novel) is often referred to sex or pornographic novels.  After reading D.H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterly’s Lover, I am not sure I would call it 黄色小說 or not.  To compare Fifty Shades of Grey with Lady Chatterly’s Lover  is to elevate the former.  Call one’s wife 黄臉婆 (yellow face old lady) is very unflattering.

Charles told me there are thousands of set phrases in Chinese and gave some examples, such as 相見恨晚, 招蜂引蝶, 拈花惹草, and  窈窕淑女，君子好逑 , which were first used 2,300 years ago.  Chinese set phrases or idioms are much more poetic and cannot be translated literally.

How to make a long lasting garden?

These photos of our garden were taken yesterday (October 6)—a birthday of one of our loved ones.  If we couldn’t deliver the flowers, we at least transmit the photos of them.  They certainly do not look like they’re on their way out.

To maintain a garden this size, one needs flowers, lots of them; so all the flowers can paint our garden with delight (paraphrasing from a song of Spring in Love’s Labour’s Lost).  They should be long lasting; this is one of the criteria in choosing the flowers.  A good friend of us told me the Chinese name of zinnia is 百日草, which means they will bloom for 100 days.

As I have said zinnia led me to Emily Dickinson, or the other way around, I no longer remember.  It doesn’t matter.

Roses have seen their best days, but they are not the last rose of the summer yet.

How long do the vivacious canna blooms last? Many weeks, but not 100 days.  So I planted the canna over a period of 5 or 6 weeks; the early bloom has long faded, some are blooming and beaming with the bright red color now; some haven’t even bloomed yet.   This is why some of the celosia are still “burning with dazzling flame” while most have lost their luster.

Some like it hot, especially the luffa, warm and hot days are conducive for luffa growth; we  no longer have that luxury.  These luffas are like teenager girls, anxious to grow and mature, before the first frost comes.  Like Thomas Jefferson who recorded the date of the first fall frost each year in his garden Journal, we are watching the first frost with a vigilant eye.

A comment from a good friend (see photo below),

只見一張空椅子，沒有主人，故作一首打油詩，為其抱屈。

問君何處桃源(花園，或絲瓜園)可避暑，

空有涼椅等君半夜回。

This is another poem by our good friend.  If our garden can bring forth all these beautiful poems from our friends, the beauty of our garden must be aesthetic and exquisite.

    蔡家花園
誰家花園百花開？
引得蜂蝶過牆來，
閒坐書生瓜棚下，
又吟又飲且開懷。

            Tsai's Garden
Who's garden with hundreds of flowers still blooming?
Drawing the bees and butterflies fence crossing ,
A reader leisurely sitting under the squash awning,
Heartily enjoying by reading and drinking.

There will be a game at PNC Park Wednesday (10/7/15)

With one day left for the MLB season yesterday (Oct. 3, 2015) Pittsburgh Pirates (97:64) was one game ahead of Chicago Cubs (96:65).  If Pirates loses and Cubs wins the last game, then Pirates will lose the home field at PNC Park for the one-game wild card game on Oct. 7.  The stakes are high; we have to go; we got to go; we went.

Judging from the fact that the gigantic “waves” ran through the entire ball park more than 5 or 6 times, the PNC Park was a happy place this afternoon (3PM to 6PM); euphoric, Jolly Roger waving, noisy hand-clapping, loud laughing, even louder shouting, everything but silent.  Pirates beat the Cincinnati Reds 4 to 0, clinching the home field.  It has been my observation that the attempt of making “waves” can never succeed unless host’s team is winning; a collective euphoric and exuberant mood is a prerequisite for making the “waves”.

While singing “Take me out to the ball game” before the bottom of the 7^th inning, I was thinking about Chicago Cubs, as the tradition of singing this song began in the Cubs field long ago.  But I have been keeping an eye on the MLB score boards from the very beginning of the game.  Cubs was playing with the Brewers at Milwaukee.  Cubs scored 3 at the first inning and eventually beat the Brewers 3 to 1, at which time Pirates was winning 4 to 0 in the 8^th inning.  Pirates had no choice but winning.

Now Pittsburghers can sing “Take me out the ball game” at PNC Park, not Wrigley Field in Chicago.

The closer, Mark Melancon (with a major league-high 51 saves--see photo below), came out to close the game even it was not a “save” situation as Pirates was leading 4 to 0.

A very nice gentleman showed us a photo of us in his camera (with lens as long as your arm, a professional one), asking our email so he can send us the photos of us. One of the photos shows both Katy and I are busy “in action” with our cameras.  We appreciate his thoughtfulness.

Chicago Cubs will use their ace pitcher, Jake Arrieta, who is 13-1 with an ERA 1.60 on the roads.  Chicago Cubs are 6-4 at PNC Park this season.  It will be a daunting task to face this formidable enemy, but Pirates (53-28 at PNC Park), along with its most loyal fans can manage it to get the job done.  Gerrit Cole will meet the challenge facing Jake Arrieta. Let’s Go Bucs!